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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Big Education Ape: 7-23-11 AM Power To The People EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

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nypost.com - A test-run of a new teacher evaluation system set to be phased in this fall rated a whopping 18 percent of participating teachers as "ineffective" -- a designation that can get even tenured teacher...

leoniehaimson

Gotham shorts « JD2718

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Gotham shorts « JD2718Gotham shortsby jd2718I’ve been more or less off-line for a month, and haven’t looked closely at Gotham Schools in even longer. A hot day is a good time for A/C and a return.1...

coopmike48

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mikeklonsky How did Gates learn about education? "I watched the movies. I saw 'To Sir, With Love'"6 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 New Oregon law will make it easier for students to transfer between districts, beginning in 2012-13 | OregonLive.com - http://goo.gl/Wio555 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

coopmike48 profile

coopmike48 Washington County students will find it difficult to switch districts unless in-out numbers balance | OregonLive.com -http://goo.gl/yMip25 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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About Lab » Board of Directors

ucls.uchicago.edu - John W. Rogers, Jr., ’76, Chair Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ariel Investments, LLC Peri Altan Strategy Consultant NAVTEQ Bill Brown Karla Scherer Distinguished Service Professor of Ame...

mikeklonsky

PoliticsSee all

The Koch Brothers Are the New Brothers Grimm

kochwatch.org - -Blogged by Jillian Barclay on Winning ProgressiveIn the 1800s, the Brothers Grimm wrote a series of fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel and Snow White, that were far more gruesome, creepy, and ...

coopmike48

StoriesSee all

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Jonah?

schooltechconnect.com - How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? So, I went for a long ride through the Loop tonight, after posting that last Edelman subclip, and I guess I need help resolving some questions. Here's what ...

tbfurman

Hyatt -- 'It was the manager's fault'

michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Some guy named Farley says, "Hyatt is sorry."CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hyatt hotels apologized Friday for an incident in which heat lamps were turned on above workers on strike at a Chicago hotel, when...

mikeklonsky

BusinessSee all

Troubles That Money Can’t Dispel

nytimes.com - “Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. But some mistakes don’t stay buried, no matter how much money you throw at them. Time and again in the United States and elsewher...

leoniehaimson

Raising the Ceiling on Income Subject to It)

robertreich.org - The very idea that Social Security might be on the chopping block in order to pay the ransom Republicans are demanding reveals both the cravenness of their demands and the callowness of the opposit...

coopmike48

TragicSee all

Hyatt apologizes for turning heatlamps on strikers

news.yahoo.com - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hyatt hotels apologized Friday for an incident in which heat lamps were turned on above workers on strike at a Chicago hotel, when the heat index was already 90 degrees. "Hyatt ...

mikeklonsky

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      SACS Scholars: Two Trainings Coming in August

      SACS Scholars: Two Trainings Coming in August

      Two Trainings Coming in August

      by SACS Scholars
      We've had another request for the FCMAT report. Read it and
      consider the implications of the suggestions made by the FCMAT team.
      If the district implemented a few key suggestions - (cease negative
      budgeting and post budget to actual anticipated accounts) schoolsite
      councils would be able to better monitor their site plans.... more on
      that after you've read and begin asking questions...

      There will be two SACS training sessions in August - Wednesdays 17 and
      24. Tell your friends and consider coming for a second - or third -
      go at it...

      Here is our Facebook page for SACS Scholars. You may also follow us on TWITTER. Check it out. We will be exploring the many different ways we can spread
      the SACS "teaching and learning". Your suggestions are all welcomed.

      Keep the requests coming.... It is a good idea to see how your site budgets are beginning to take shape now; FY2011/12 are interesting to look at before the school year gets
      underway.
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      CPS reverses course on controversial teacher applicant survey - Chicago Sun-Times

      CPS reverses course on controversial teacher applicant survey - Chicago Sun-Times

      CPS reverses course on controversial teacher applicant survey

      By Rosalind Rossi Education Reporter July 21, 2011 7:08PM

      Story Image

      Jean-Claude Brizard

      Updated: July 22, 2011 2:15AM



      Chicago Public Schools officials Thursday did an abrupt about-face on implementing a controversial teacher-applicant test and said TeacherFit scores would no longer be used to automatically blacklist potential teachers.

      In an e-mail, Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard told principals they could use TeacherFit scores however they wanted, and would be free to hire candidates whom CPS officials previously had eliminated from the candidate pool based solely on their TeacherFit scores.

      The Thursday 6 p.m. e-mail followed a Thursday Chicago Sun-Times story concerning the deluge of complaints to

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      This Week In Education: Update: Emanuel Storms Out Over School Choice Questions

      This Week In Education: Update: Emanuel Storms Out Over School Choice Questions
      Update: Emanuel Storms Out Over School Choice Questions Remember when Chris Cristie freaked out in response to a question about his keeping his kids out of the parochial system? Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel did his best to top that in an interview last week, storming out in response to questions about ...
      Video Interlude: A Typeface For Dyslexics Research by the University of Twente indicates that the typeface decreases reading errors by dyslexics. (A typeface for dyslexics) Via Kottke.
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      Today’s Round-Up Of Good School Reform Posts | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

      Today’s Round-Up Of Good School Reform Posts | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
      This Blog (& All Edublogs) May Be Unavailable At Times On Sunday & Monday Edublogs is conducting maintenance on Sunday and Monday as they prepare for adding a ton of upgrades. This means there may be times during these two days when this blog, and the million other Edublogs-hosted blogs, might be unavailable. Thanks for ...
      Today’s Round-Up Of Good School Reform Posts Here are some recent good school reform-related posts: Awhile back, I wrote a post titled Do Teachers REALLY Come From The Bottom Third Of Colleges? Or Is That Statistic A Bunch Of Baloney? It received a lot of comments, to say the least. Today, I ...
      The Best Infographics Of 2011 — So Far I usually just do a year-end list of The Best Infographics and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers —
      The Best Infographics Of 2011 — So Far I usually just do a year-end list of The Best Infographics and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers —
      Posted by at

      All Education Matters: Rep Hansen Clarke's Call for Loan Forgiveness

      All Education Matters: Rep Hansen Clarke's Call for Loan Forgiveness

      Rep Hansen Clarke's Call for Loan Forgiveness

      by C. Cryn Johannsen
      AEM a few days ago announced Rep Hansen Clarke's call to forgive student loan debt. Obviously, it's an admirable thing to do on the floor, and I am in the midst of setting up talks with his office. However, I think it is important to keep in mind that, unfortunately, Clarke is not on any committees that could sway his colleagues to push legislation to forgive student loans (for instance, he is not on the Education & Workforce Committee - one that could have considerable influence on such matters, but has, sadly, been bought and sold by the industry). As much as we would all love that, it is not realistic. Perhaps at one point there was a possibility, but it has passed. With austerity measures being pushed by both parties, the notion of loan forgiveness is simply out of the question, and anyone who has any sense of how the market works and how the student lending industry and
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      Jersey Jazzman: Bill Gates: Keep Skimming the Cream!

      Jersey Jazzman: Bill Gates: Keep Skimming the Cream!

      Bill Gates: Keep Skimming the Cream!

      by Duke
      Bill Gates - who apparently was voted as permanent Czar of Education when I wasn't looking - just LOVES education "solutions" that skim the best students away from the rest:
      On the fraught issue of school choice, his foundation has been a strong advocate of charter schools, and Mr. Gates is particularly fond of the KIPP charter network and its focus on serving inner-city neighborhoods. "Whenever you get depressed about giving money in this area," he volunteers, "you can spend a day in a KIPP school and know that they are spending less money than the dropout factory down the road."
      Well, that's pretty easy to do when you're only teaching the kids who don't have special needs; in other words,

      Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action
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      Larry Fleischer re: IEP oral-aural focus | Special Needs in Education

      Larry Fleischer re: IEP oral-aural focus | Special Needs in Education

      Larry Fleischer re: IEP oral-aural focus

      by educator
      for an English translation of the ASL clip go to: handeyes.wordpress.com clip of Dr. Larry Fleischer explaining about an IEP meeting for his daughter where various services were offered that promoted an oral-aural focus and content areas& language development not discussed. Question by mega-moma: Public school or homeschool? My son turned 4 in June. I [...]
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      “We Deserve Not To Die” — Blogposts from Utoya Survivors « Student Activism

      “We Deserve Not To Die” — Blogposts from Utoya Survivors « Student Activism

      Eighty Dead at Utoya

      by Angus Johnston

      Not long ago, Norwegian police announced that at least eighty people are known to have been massacred at the Labor Party youth camp at Utoya today. The vast majority appear to have been teenagers participating in an organizing retreat at the camp.

      Police indicated that the number of dead may rise in the hours to come. Many of the bodies recovered so far were removed from the sea, as their attacker apparently shot at those who attempted to escape by swimming



      “We Deserve Not To Die” — Blogposts from Utoya Survivors

      by Angus Johnston

      Two survivors of yesterday’s massacre at Utoya have written blogposts describing their experiences.

      One post comes from Prableen Kaur, the head of the Worker’s Youth League in Grorud, a district in Oslo. Her post has been verified by, and republished in, the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

      The other was written by Khamshajiny Gunaratnam, a 23-year-old youth activist, whose identity and authorship of her blogpost was confirmed by the newspaper Dagbladet.

      Kaur and are apparently close friends — each makes references in their post that seem to refer to the other.

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      Jersey Jazzman: Temper, Temper!

      Jersey Jazzman: Temper, Temper!

      Temper, Temper!

      by Duke
      Poor Rahm Emanuel: apparently his delicate sensibilities couldn't handle a simple question:



      This reporter should be grateful that the easily offended Emanuel didn't go off on one of his obscenity-laced tirades...


      If the report in the Washington Post's Answer Sheet is correct, he has chosen the Lab School, where Obama sent his own kids, where Duncan went to school himself, and where they will likely receive small classes, a well-rounded education and little high-stakes testing, the

      Christie's "Catholic Education"

      by Duke
      Let me reiterate: Chris Christie claims he sends his own kids to private, Catholic schools so they can get a religious education:



      Let's first point out that there are Catholic schools, and then there are very elite, very expensive Catholic schools. Delbarton is the latter, with a tuition of $26, 495. Hardly the $4,800 that St. Vincent's over in Newark charges.

      But I'm also quite curious what kind of "religious education" Christie seeks for his own children. Would it include the study of the famous 1986 pastoral letter from the US Catholic Bishops, "Economic Justice for All"?
      15. All people have a right to participate in the economic life of society. Basic justice demands that
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      NYC Public School Parents: DOE's "happy hour" celebrating school closures and charter co-locations

      NYC Public School Parents: DOE's "happy hour" celebrating school closures and charter co-locations

      DOE's "happy hour" celebrating school closures and charter co-locations

      by Leonie Haimson
      Video of Deputy Marc Sternberg at the DOE "happy hour" at Tribeca Tavern this evening, being asked why the court's decision that will allow the DOE to close 22 struggling public schools and squeeze charter schools into 15 more schools is a cause for celebration. For more on this "happy hour," see GothamSchools.

      Though Sternberg phrased it as “an important moment for New York City’s public school families!" it was instead yet another way in which arrogant and heedless Tweed educrats have been able to exert their irrational authority over thousands of NYC parents, teachers, and students who begged them not to close or co-locate these schools.

      See also the photo below the video of General Counsel Michael Best, celebrating while surrounded by other DOE staff members.
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      No Crime Left Behind

      No Crime Left Behind

      No Crime Left Behind

      by Joseph K.

      On January 8, 2002 President George Bush signed NCLB, The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. He was flanked by cosponsors Ted Kennedy and John Boehner, among others, all wearing ear-to-ear grins because they knew their legislation, which had received nearly unanimous bipartisan support in Congress, would solve all our education problems with the stroke of a pen.

      Wasn’t that a wonderful day! By 2014, illiteracy would end (or else). One hundred percent of our students would read and solve math problems at grade level. Children who had never received pre or post-natal care, children who had been malnourished since birth, children who had never been read to, children whose parents had never purchased a book nor bothered to take them to the library, children with significant emotional disturbance, even children with such severe dyslexia that The Catcher in the Rye looks like nothing more than a tangled plateful of

      Posted by at

      Schools Matter: "Parent" Trigger co-author Austin knew he was breaking laws while he lobbied the California State Board of Education

      Schools Matter: "Parent" Trigger co-author Austin knew he was breaking laws while he lobbied the California State Board of Education

      "Parent" Trigger co-author Austin knew he was breaking laws while he lobbied the California State Board of Education

      by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
      '[Skeels] believes that Austin is only pretending to show concern for students at underperforming schools, and that his primary concern is promoting the "privatization" of public schools.' I would restate that: Austin's primary concern is promoting whatever he's paid to promote, and pretending to show concern for whatever he's paid to pretend to show concern for. — Caroline Grannan (Journalist, Editor, Educator)

      Defend Public Schools from Corporate Charter-Voucher Charlatans like the foppish millionaire from Benedict Canyon, parent trigger pusher Ben Austin
      Our recent expose of Ben Austin's criminal involvement in passage of the charter market share growing gambit cynically named the Parent Empowerment Act pointed ou
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      Schooling in the Ownership Society: A court victory for charter operators, a loss for civil rights groups and unions

      Schooling in the Ownership Society: A court victory for charter operators, a loss for civil rights groups and unions

      A court victory for charter operators, a loss for civil rights groups and unions

      by Mike Klonsky
      In a defeat for the NYC teachers, parents and civil rights groups, Supreme Court Justice Paul Feinman denied the UFT and NAACP’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing the D.O.E. from closing 22 schools and co-locating 15 charter schools in regular public school buildings. Feinman.ruled that Mayor Bloombeg,Chancellor Dennis Wolcott were free to move ahead with plans to close more neighborhood schools and move the place 15 privately-run charter schools in the buildings of neighborhood schools this year.

      The N.A.A.C.P. had joined with the union in the suit, which among its other claims, said that the city had
      Posted by at

      Daily Kos: Knowing one's priorities

      Daily Kos: Knowing one's priorities

      Knowing one's priorities

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      for me, my marriage is still the most important thing, because Leaves on the Current is not only my best friend, but the person I trust most in the world

      next comes my role as a teacher - to some degree that encompasses what I do here, since much of what I post is in part because I function as a teacher even outside my classroom. Please note - that does not mean lecturing per se. It does include challenging the thinking of others, presenting them with information or points of view they might not have considered.

      then comes my volunteering in dental triage in free clinics/fairs/mission as I am doing this weekend, about whichI wrote earlier this evening.

      After that comes everthing else. That includes the cats that grace and bless our lives. That includes nieces and nephews and sibling and for Leaves parents. It also includes politics, human rights, the environment, music,

      Five myths about extreme weather

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      I am 400 miles away from my home in Virginia, in the mountains of Southwest, volunteering at the Wise Health Fair (about which you can read my diary of yesterday). That means I missed an historic day in the DC Metro area - as you can read in this story Dulles Airport hit an all-time high of 105 degree, Marshall Airport just outside Baltimore hit 106 for its second highest reading ever, and Reagan National's 102 was one degree shy of its alltime high - and the heat index hit an extremely dangerous 126 degrees. Exceedingly high temperatures were felt all over the Northeasten US -

      The Weather Channel reported that New York’s Central Park was 104 degrees Friday afternoon, the hottest reading there since 1977, and that the 104-degree reading in Atlantic City, N.J., was

      on a different topic - another time at the Wise Health Fair

      by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

      I know the political world is focused on the crisis over raising the debt limit, which is why this diary may scroll into oblivion.

      In a sense, I am in a different world. The debt limit negotiations will affect the world into which I have entered, but the reality is much more basic.

      For the third year in a row I traveled more than 400 miles southwest from my home into the Appalachian Mountains of SW Virginia, to the town Wise, for the 12th annual health and dental fair cosponsored by Stan Brock's Remote Area Medical and the Virginia Dental Foundation's Mission of Mercy. While I know and respect

      Posted by at

      solidaridad: Pots, Kettles, and Ben Austin's Unconscionable Hypocrisy

      solidaridad: Pots, Kettles, and Ben Austin's Unconscionable Hypocrisy

      Pots, Kettles, and Ben Austin's Unconscionable Hypocrisy

      by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
      First published in Schools Matter on 2011-07-18


      There's nothing the matter with teachers that a little less unionization and more COMPETITION couldn't cure. —Ann Coulter (racist reactionary right wing pundit)


      It would force the district to learn how to run great schools by forcing them to COMPETE. — Ben Austin(Executive Director LAPU/Parent Revolution)


      The foppish millionaire from Benedict Canyon, school privatization pusher and poverty pimp Ben Austin
      Few people are more despicable than Ben Austin, Executive Director of the so-called Parent Revolution (née Los Angeles Parents Union - LAPU) school privatization junta. After all, anyone mendacious enough to claim they're a parent with children enrolled in school when they have no school age children is lacking of any scruples. [1] Moreover, a man who

      Save Our Schools
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      Friday, July 22, 2011

      Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: Why Miriam Cutelis is marching at the Save Our Schools march Next week

      Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: Why Miriam Cutelis is marching at the Save Our Schools march Next week

      Why Miriam Cutelis is marching at the Save Our Schools march Next week

      by ART-tivist Mommy
      I have so many reasons swimming around my head as to why I am marching for our public schools. But here are some of the main reasons I am attending the Save Our Schools March and conference next Saturday in Washington, DC. To find out more about the march go to their site. I invite you all to join me to speak up for our schools and our children.

      1. Testing has been proven to be an unreliable measure of what is happening in the classroom. To fire, rate, reward and punish teachers and schools on this

      Save Our Schools March
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